Vehicle leveling systems, for example, leveling systems used to level or stabilize a motor home when it is parked, are known to employ mechanical, electromechanical or hydraulic jacks for leveling. Mechanical jacks typically require individual manual deployment by the operator and are, therefore, time and labor intensive. Hydraulic jacks can be automated for remote operation, but typically only operate automatically in one direction in a controlled fashion. That is, they can be configured to extend automatically, but subsequent retraction is done by vehicle weight applied to the jack and/or by a coil spring. Therefore, making fine adjustments to level a vehicle equipped with hydraulic jacks can be time consuming and difficult, and fine adjustments typically can be done in extension but not retraction.
Electromechanical jacks can be electronically actuated in either direction, i.e., extended or retracted, but have not been fully adopted for vehicle leveling systems in view of the electrical power required to operate them. The amount of required power increases as the weight of the load supported by the electromechanical jack increases. In many applications, only one electromechanical jack has been operable at a time, making the process of extending or retracting all the jacks, in order to level the vehicle, a time consuming operation.
It is an object of one aspect of the present invention to provide electronic controllers for vehicle leveling systems that reduce or overcome some or all of the shortcomings of prior known devices and systems. It is a particular object of certain preferred embodiments to provide an electronic controller for a vehicle leveling system employing electromechanical jacks. It is a further object of certain preferred embodiments to provide an electronic controller for a vehicle leveling system configured for automated or remote control extension and retraction of multiple leveling jacks simultaneously. It is an object of another aspect of the present invention to provide vehicle leveling systems incorporating such electronic controllers. Additional objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art, that is, those who are knowledgeable or experienced in this field of technology, in view of the following disclosure of the various aspects of the invention and detailed description of certain preferred embodiments.